It seems if I’m not careful, the rest of 2011 will slip by and I will hardly notice.

I can’t believe Halloween came and went before I even had a chance to decorate the house. My various pumpkins didn’t come out of the bin until Halloween evening; by then it was too late to put out any jack o’lanterns, so the plain pumpkins that stay out for Thanksgiving are the only ones I managed to unpack. The upside to that is that I am decorated for Thanksgiving.

One thing I’ve been able to enjoy this fall has been the beautiful color this year. At least that’s something we can all appreciate as we shuttle ourselves between home and work and from appointment to appointment or activity to activity.

Of course, according to the Washington State Foliage Hotline (1-900-354-4595), the premier area for color this week is near Walla Walla. I do plan on doing a little driving this weekend, but Walla Walla may be out of my reach. Perhaps a drive along State Route 11 (Chuckanut Drive) will still yield some pretty foliage. Or I may be relegated to enjoying what I can see from the Interstate.

It seems what I’m lacking these days is time to enjoy the little things. There just aren’t enough hours in the day. I’ve missed Halloween, I’m fast on my way to missing out on the last of the fall color and what do we have to look forward to this weekend? The end of Daylight Savings Time.

As much as I look forward to its beginning in the spring, I dread its end in the fall. There’s something so awful about losing that hour — yes, I will admit it, that hour of sleep — that I find myself planning how I can manage to make it up.

If it’s true what they say about admitting you have a problem being the first step to solving it, I’m in good shape. However, I am no closer to inventing the machine that will enable me to add more hours to my day.

-Kathy Reed, edito